"Crown Automobile has suffered, and will continue to suffer, immediate
and irreparable harm as a result of MBUSA’s decision to add an
additional Mercedes dealer in Crown Automobile’s market area," the
filing states.

"MBUSA’s decision gives the new dealer an
immediate windfall by appropriating to it a portion of the going concern
value of Crown Automobile’s business."

In a November filing in Jefferson County civil court, attorneys for Crown state the dealership, located near the Riverchase Galleria since the mid-1980s, has an agreement with MBUSA to sell its vehicles in the Birmingham area and is among the top 25 percent of Mercedes dealerships in the South.

MBUSA, the filing stated, "has assured Crown Automobile that its current location is the best location at which to sell Mercedes automobiles in the Birmingham area, and even rejected a suggestion by Crown Automobile to relocate the dealership to Grants Mill Road at I-459" the site of the planned Irondale dealership.

In August, Crown entered into an agreement to sell its dealership, according to the filing. In September, officials with MBUSA met with Crown's general manager and announced an agreement had been reached with another dealer to open a dealership on Grants Mill Road.

"When asked why Crown Automobile had not been offered an opportunity to open a location there, (MBUSA officials stated the company) never allows the same owner to own more than one dealership in the same market area," the filing stated.

Cannon confirmed to the general manager of the dealership that an agreement had been reached with another Mercedes dealer to open another dealership in the Birmingham area but left before the president of Crown arrived, the filing states.

After learning of those plans, the party that planned to purchase the Crown dealership terminated the purchase of the Hoover dealership and received a refund of earnest money that it had paid into escrow, according to court documents.

Irondale officials are planning to pave a 1,700-foot road leading to the new Mercedes dealership, at a cost of a little more than $1 million. On Tuesday, the city council considered raising the tax on automobile sales by one-half percent to pay for road work near Grants Mill Road dealerships.

Mayor Tommy Joe Alexander earlier this month said the dealership hopes to open Oct. 1, 2014 and could generate $400,000 in revenue for the city in the dealership's first year of operation and $700,000 by the third year.

Joe Agresti, the Baton Rouge-based Mercedes dealer planning to open the Irondale dealership, said he could not discuss the project until the lawsuit is settled.